Most people believe that you can only haggle a price for cars or houses, but that's not true. You can also get lower prices on appliances, televisions, clothing and other items. One time I was able to get the price for a big screen television knocked down from $2500.00 to $1700.00. It took me nearly an hour an a half, but as you can see it was worth it.
Don't ever feel bad about bargaining with a salesperson in a store. This actually works for the benefit of both parties. If you get away with a discount that makes you feel good and the store makes a sale with a profit, then both of you are happy. You will most likely continue giving that store your business. In turn the store just gained a possible life-long customer, not to mention the fact that you will probably tell your friends about your experience with this store and they will gain more business from word of mouth. It's almost as if they are paying you with a discount to advertise their store.
There are two kinds of stores out there. You have your department stores and your smaller stores that usually sell only one type of item like, clothing or kitchen items and so on. Department stores usually mark up items 100% and above to cover there overhead. Smaller stores don't have a huge overhead because they carry less merchandise and they don't have as many employees. Your basic department stores won't usually give you a break, so you're better off hitting the stores that deal with certain items.
Let's take a store that sells items like televisions, computers, stereos and appliances. Whether you are going in there to buy one item or more than one, have a set price in your mind of what you're going to pay for each item you are going to buy. Be prepared to leave the store if they won't meet your price. You can always go back later. The same sales people are not there day and night. Make sure that the salesperson knows that you are going to purchasing more than one item, say a dishwasher and a television. This will help your bargaining power. I know of one store that had on their computer screen a bottom dollar price that the salesperson could sell certain items for.
When you go shopping at say, a clothes store. Walk around and pick out all the items you plan on purchasing, then find a salesperson and show them what you plan on buying today. Ask them for a 15% discount. If they don't want to give it to you than start walking out the store, they might change their mind. If there is an item out of all the items that you picked out that you need, go ahead and buy it, this will give them more time to think about your offer. Even if they offered you 10%, you would still be a winner.
When you meet the salesperson, be friendly and nice. Let him/her know that you believe that they are going to do the best they can for you. Be firm when you make an offer, don't let them feel any weakness in you. It would help if you can make a purchase with cash, because the credit card companies charge the store a percentage of the sale that they make. Make sure that when you try negotiating with the salesperson, that there is no one around to hear you, otherwise the salesperson probably won't budge. Try shopping when the store is slow, you will probably have better luck getting a discount.
Look for end of the season bargains,they will want to get rid of there inventory and replace it with new. Look for merchandise that isn't marked. You can start bargaining with these items since there is no price tag. Look for damaged or flawed items, you can easily get a discount for these items, even in department stores. Every store usually will have a place somewhere in the store that will have a rack full of miscellaneous items, or clearance items. When you go in the store ask where they keep their discounted or discontinued items. Good luck shopping!